Azerbaijan on Wednesday warned a meeting between Armenia, the European Union and the United States scheduled for next month would create “new dividing lines” in the South Caucasus region where the archrivals are taking tentative steps for peace.
The conference between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken "creates so-called spheres of influence in the region, instead of encouraging the Armenian side to negotiate in good faith," Aykhan Hajizada, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in response to a media inquiry.
The actions taken by the EU and U.S. "clearly have a one-sided and biased character" and are based on a "double standard approach," Hajizada noted, saying the conference scheduled to take place in Brussels on April 5 is not fully transparent, lacks regional inclusivity and runs contrary to the "promoted and much needed confidence-building and integrity in the region."
Hajizada further said the "open pro-Armenian public manifestation" undertaken by Washington and Brussels may create an illusion in Armenia that the EU and U.S. will support Yerevan in potential future provocations against Baku.
"In such (a) case, the EU and the U.S. will share responsibility for any possible destabilizing action by Armenia," Hajizada also said, adding that Azerbaijan calls on all sides to refrain from taking steps that are counterproductive to peace talks and may escalate tensions.
Last year, Azerbaijan carried out a lightning military operation in Karabakh that saw Baku recapture the mountainous enclave from Armenian separatist forces who had controlled it for three decades.
In the aftermath, the entire Armenian population fled Karabakh for Armenia.
In December, the South Caucasus neighbors issued a joint statement saying they wanted to reach a peace deal. They have since held numerous talks, including two days of negotiations in Berlin in February, but Baku often laments “Western bias” in negotiations, namely from pro-Armenian nations like France and Germany.
Christian Armenia and mostly Muslim Azerbaijan went to war twice over the breakaway region of Karabakh, occupied by its ethnic Armenian majority since the 1990s despite being internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
The sides first fought in 1988 and again in the fall of 2020, ending after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that also opened the door to normalization.
Armenia described the offensive as ethnic cleansing. Azerbaijan denied that and said those who fled could have stayed on and been integrated into Azerbaijan.
Key elements in securing a treaty are demarcating borders and establishing regional transport corridors through each other's territory.
Armenia has also raised the issue of determining control of ethnic enclaves on both sides of the border. Azerbaijan wants its neighbor to return four villages it says Yerevan is occupying.
Pashinyan has repeatedly signaled in recent weeks that he is willing to return the villages to Azerbaijan, which are important for Yerevan, as they control its main road northwards to the border with Georgia.
Azerbaijan has said that the return of its lands is a necessary precondition for a peace deal to end three decades of conflict over Karabakh.
They have said they want to sign a formal peace treaty, but talks have become bogged down in issues including the demarcation of the countries' 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) border, which is closed and heavily militarized.
